ED 300 and Wheat Thins

I use this website from my blogroll to listen to pieces before I buy them.  The piece I want is 24 Caprices, Op. 1 No. 1 in E major.  It’s nice to be able to listen to it first so I know I like it and to see how it should sound.

I bought my dog a new collar yesterday.  It’s called the gentle leader.  It’s the kind of collar that goes around his neck along with going over his nose.  It makes it so when we go on walks, he does not pull really hard anymore.  I was amazed at how well it works.  My dog does not like the feel of the collar on his nose yet, but he will get used to it.  If you like to take your dog on walks but he actually walks you, I would advise getting this kind of collar.

This is from a calendar with random things on each day:

“She had difficulty completing simple calculations.  For example, when I asked her what three times three plus one equals, she said, “Ten”.”  That can be right, but it can be wrong.  Depends on which way the teacher looked at it.  Seeing the numbers would really help clarify which answer is the correct one.  It was just a fun little word game.

I found this website and it has some good lesson plans for music education.  One thing I like is how they use music to teach other subjects.  There is one on music and math and using each subject to teach about the other subject.  The example given does not use technology, but it could be added in easily.  Using a Smart board for writing things down or making questions and using the clickers to have the students answer them are easy ways to integrate technology into this lesson.

I was looking around at other blogs and came across Jamie’s.  He had a link to the history of entertainment.  I looked around on it and found audio files recorded in the 1920’s of jazz artists.  One song was “Keep you skirt down Maryann”.  In music, we would listen to the instruments and see what kind of instruments were being used along with what style were they playing.  In sociology, the same song would be analyzed by the words and their meaning.  I listened a little and Maryann’s aunt was telling her to keep her skirt down, but Maryann thought she had a nice dimple on her……….knee.  Oh how times have changed.  That could spark a lot of interesting conversation with high school students.

This is the new and the old.  The previous owners did the painting job.  We’ll be fixing that within the next month.  You can see how much smaller the tankless is.

This is just a more up-close look.  The yellow tube is actually the gas line.  I might be trying to beautify the 2×4’s it is mounted to.  I’ll wait till we paint to worry about that though.

For music students, a metronome is essential for practice.  A student needs to know how fast a piece should be played.  The metronome helps the student play at a consistent tempo too.  Not all students own a metronome, since the cheapest one is about $20.  But, nearly every student has a computer.  This website is an online metronome that a student can listen to while practicing or can at least be used to find out what a tempo is.

I got a tankless water heater put in on Tuesday.  It is wonderful.  I can take a 40 minute shower and never run out of hot water.  I’ll see how it does with my gas bill too.  It is supposed to reduce my bill by about 50%.  It is different from a regular tank water heater in the way that it is not always heating.  It turns on when I turn on the hot water.  I would advise getting one the next time you need a new water heater.  The only down side is that they cost more. Here is a website that talks about tankless water heaters.

I use some tech hardware while I practice.  I have a metronome that can give me pitch along with a steady beat.  I have sound isolation headphones that I use with my metronome so I am able to hear the tempo better.  The headphones help save my hearing too.  I have also recorded myself using my isight camera on my mac.  I also have a miniDVD camcorder that I use to record concerts that I play in.  I have used the camcorder to record rehearsals too.  All these are very helpful for the the high school music scene since a teacher can record a student and let them listen/watch what they sound/look like.  The teacher and give the students the link to an online metronome so the students will not have an excuse to practice with one.

This is my blog for my teaching tech class.  I have never written a blog or read a blog.  Most of them I’ve seen are people talking to no one, which is what I’m doing.  That’s why I’m stopping this post until I have something to say to someone.